Bench computer: Linux workable, or need Windows?

[Simon]

Could Zorin be the answer? https://zorin.com/os/pro/ I've known about it a while. Can't remember why I never used it. If they are serious might go somewhere as microsoft piss more people off.

[tooki]

At least I can say that I’ve been impressed at how much faster updates go on windows 10 compared to earlier versions. Before getting the new HP laptop, I ran windows on my macs in virtual machines, and on the same hardware, windows XP updates took the longest (by far!), windows 7 was a big improvement on that, but windows 10 is a huge improvement over that! It also boots dramatically faster. I don’t necessarily like all the UI changes (win 7 is probably my favorite windows UI), but in terms of performance and stability, windows 10 has left a good impression on me. (The only windows 10 systems I’ve used that take a while to boot are the ones at school, but that’s because they boot over the network, with what strikes me as an unimpressive configuration that reflects poorly on the IT services, not the OS or hardware as such.)

Win10 boots faster because it's not actually shutting down.  The default "shutdown" is actually hibernate, despite what the UI says.  Closeall apps, and then hibernate.  Reboot is still all the way down and back up.

You can turn that "feature" off, with admin rights, if you explore the "new and improved" (read: changed for no reason) Control Panel, which also gives you the benefit of using the Windoze partition from a different system (like dual-boot Linux) without breaking it.

Actually, since I’m one of those people who essentially never shuts down his computer, but only uses sleep, the only times I boot is to restart for updates. And windows 10 restarts way, way faster than earlier versions.

(Windows 7 even took forever to wake from sleep sometimes. Nobody could figure out why. This was on my work PC at a small software company, so no enterprise IT bloat, either. But our sysadmin was flummoxed by it.)

fast boot has been a thing since windows 7. IT support  usually start by getting you to disable it if you have issues. I always turn it off and can't tell the difference.

Actually, the internet says it was introduced in Windows 8.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Could Zorin be the answer? https://zorin.com/os/pro/ I've known about it a while. Can't remember why I never used it. If they are serious might go somewhere as microsoft piss more people off.

Whilst I'd prefer not to throw shade at Zorin, I wonder if the "pay these people instead of MS" attitude is now old hat. And not trying to be mean but a user that will not take the time to play with a free Linux and learn how to find and then adapt something to be perfect for their needs seems, I dunno... Just seems lazy to me. I commend the Zorin community if they do indeed welcome people over from Winders.

Another analogy I dreamed up is like having a particular brand of scope you've used for decades. The maker of the only scope you've ever known starts being a jerk and making it hard to use it the way it always worked.

So you pay more than you should for someone to modify a cheaper brand of scope so that it works like the brand you now hate.

I dunno. I had this type of distro (Xandos) a long time ago. I felt the chasm of learning red hat was too wide and that the turn-key solution would be all I need. After a few weeks, I found the blinkered approach became too restrictive. Then, the nice folks in the Mandrake community helped me fill in a few gaps. It takes work.

[BradC]

Could Zorin be the answer?

That depends entirely on the question.

[Simon]

fast boot has been a thing since windows 7. IT support  usually start by getting you to disable it if you have issues. I always turn it off and can't tell the difference.

Actually, the internet says it was introduced in Windows 8.

Oh right, my mistake, so you mean it was introduced in Windows 10

[AaronD]

Could Zorin be the answer? https://zorin.com/os/pro/ I've known about it a while. Can't remember why I never used it. If they are serious might go somewhere as microsoft piss more people off.

I poked around that site.  It's paid, but it says it's based on Ubuntu.  All of the apps on the alternative list run on Ubuntu, which is probably how they're doing it, and some are not really viable alternatives to the real deal.  Some are awesome, like the office suite; others still have a long way to go, like the CAD tools.

So the impression that I got is that it's just a rebranded version of Ubuntu.  Given the support for Ubuntu itself, is it really worth paying for a clone of it?

[tooki]

fast boot has been a thing since windows 7. IT support  usually start by getting you to disable it if you have issues. I always turn it off and can't tell the difference.

Actually, the internet says it was introduced in Windows 8.

Oh right, my mistake, so you mean it was introduced in Windows 10

Exactly!!

[Simon]

Could Zorin be the answer? https://zorin.com/os/pro/ I've known about it a while. Can't remember why I never used it. If they are serious might go somewhere as microsoft piss more people off.

I poked around that site.  It's paid, but it says it's based on Ubuntu.  All of the apps on the alternative list run on Ubuntu, which is probably how they're doing it, and some are not really viable alternatives to the real deal.  Some are awesome, like the office suite; others still have a long way to go, like the CAD tools.

So the impression that I got is that it's just a rebranded version of Ubuntu.  Given the support for Ubuntu itself, is it really worth paying for a clone of it?

I don't know what the process is of creating a distro is. I guess if you rely on another you are highly dependant on that and if there are issues will have to keep updating. I see that when I asked on their forum the only asset anyone could mention was the support forum itself.

There is a free version